PM Update: Very windy tonight and a blustery Saturday as Northeast storm explodes

Update, 10:20 p.m.: The wind advisory has been extended to cover the entire D.C. metro region for gusts up to 50 mph. A few power outages cannot be ruled out. Strongest winds are overnight, but it will remain gusty well into Saturday.

From 5:00 p.m.: As the Northeast blizzard winds up overnight, it may throw back a few rain or snow showers. But the main effect of the potent storm will be driving winds, gusting over 30 mph at times through Saturday. Temperatures will be quite chilly too in the storm’s wake, holding in the 30s Saturday. Sunday’s more tranquil, with moderating temperatures.

Through Tonight: Through this evening, a rain shower or two is possible with temperatures slowly falling back into the 30s. Mainly north of D.C. towards Baltimore, a snow shower or two is possible, mainly after midnight. It turns windy and very cold, with lows in the mid-to-upper 20s. But factoring in winds from the northwest at 15-25 mph, gusting to 30-40 mph (especially late tonight), wind chills will be in the teens.

Saturday: Partly sunny and quite brisk. Highs range from 35-40, but wind chills are frequently in the 20s given breezes out of the northwest at 15-25 gusting over 30 mph at times.

And, to close, I encourage you to read a wonderful, beautifully written account of what areas experiencing the brunt of the blizzard will endure from AccuWeather’s Elliott Abrams:

Satellite image as of 5 p.m. from NASA

Near the snow/rain line, giant marshmallow snow globs will aggregate into a pasty plaster that can topple trees as if they were toothpicks and snap electric and telephone wires as if they were telephone and electric wires. At the height of the storm, anyone outside will face a fearsome blizzard. Innocent snowflakes turn to painfully stinging missiles, darts and tacks, propelled by gusting gales that scream over the seas and roar through the woods. In other words, high winds produce a crystalline ticker-tape parade of snowflakes: furiously falling and flowing flakes filling the fields, whisking past the windows, gliding to the ground and beautifying the bushes. The wild wind whips the snow into roadside rows and churns roof top snow into a creamy concoction with meandering smoky membranes of snow granules that dance to the edges and cascade down the sides. The storm’s gusty gales whip the snow into car-capturing, truck-trapping, bus-blocking, SUV-stalling drifts. It is among the great storms, one of the atmosphere’s awesome displays of change and violence among the momentous events that over time have shaped and changed the course of human events in ways wondrous and ominous.

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